Jiří Imlauf: Ústí Mainly

The book is a collage of diary entries that, with uncommon effect, connect world events with life in Ústí nad Labem, “one-second novels” from the “wild north” with timeless reflections, playfulness and rawness: “And once again Děčín station – I drop a five in the coffee machine and in the exact instant the machine swallows it a lady next to me says: You wouldn’t have five crowns? Not any more, I tell her. She says, You’ve got to bang it, like this. And she expertly hits the coffee machine right in the stomach. Zilch. When I grow tired of this I give her five crowns. I’m not going to have a cappuccino anyway. And she goes, That’s not enough? This pisses me off. What’s that?, I say. The lady goes, That’s not enough for a coffee! I raise my voice a tad. So get the coin out of this thing – you’ve got to bang it like this.”

The evening will be hosted by the book’s editor Pavel Hájek.